“Fake It So Real” Gets Real Recognition

So says CHASS alum Robert Greene (Film Studies ’00), during an interview with Filmmaker Magazine earlier this year. And film his family is just what he did. But what came from filming his cousin, pro wrestler Chris Solar, was not a typical home movie. Instead, the product was “Fake It So Real”, a documentary that follows the semi-pro wrestlers of Lincolnton, NC’s Millenium Wrestling Federation. And the film is amassing plenty of critical acclaim.

“Fake It So Real,” filmed in only one week, follows a group of men as they grapple with their lives outside of the ring in order to stay in the ring. The documentary was included in Roger Ebert’s 12 best films of 2012; It also wrestled its way onto The New Yorker’s best movies list of 2012 compiled by Richard Brody, and was featured by The Wall Street Journal.

Greene’s other documentaries boast a bounty of awards and nominations of their own. His debut film, “Kati with an I,” received a Gotham Award, while his 2009 piece, “All In: The Poker Movie,” was awarded Best Documentary by the CineVegas film festival. With Greene’s accolades and current position as documentary producer and director for the New York based 4th Row Films, it is hard to imagine he did not harbor a life-long documentarian dream.

It wasn’t until Greene enrolled in an Introduction to Film course at NC State that he discovered his passion for film. While writing about “Rebel Without a Cause” for Dr. Tom Wallis’ course, Greene realized that film could be “a deep and honest exploration into the soul.” Two years after his graduation, Greene held his first one-person show at the Millennium in New York. Just over a decade later, his films have screened at festivals around the globe.